Credit cards with travel rewards programs might help you earn points and discounts that you can use toward vacation. In addition, you may get free nights at your favourite hotels or airline tickets. These cards come with a slew of perks and rewards that can help you take advantage of your spending habits, such as complimentary upgrades to first-class seats, access to exclusive airport lounges, and free meals.
Credit cards, like clothing, aren’t one-size-fits-all. We’ve already said it: the best card for you saves you money through a low-interest rate, a balance transfer offer, or cashback or one that delivers value through rewards points that can either be used for retail and travel.
You can’t beat travel credit cards if you want the best of the best for credit card rewards. But these cards are impressive in more ways than just their rewards. They also tend to offer terrific insurance packages, premium perks, and massive sign-up bonuses. In addition, you might earn reward points for everyday purchases and travel-related expenses with a travel credit card.
There are some essential points to remember about travel credit cards, as well as the features that may be most relevant to you while planning your dream vacation.
What are the advantages of using a travel credit card?
Benefits meant to enhance your travel experiences, such as miles, points that you can redeem for hotel room upgrades, flights, and no foreign transaction fees, are available with general travel, airline, or hotel credit cards.
How do I choose the best travel rewards credit card?
When choosing the ideal credit card for you, consider the rewards, bonuses, and appropriate features for your lifestyle and spending habits. For example, for earning and redeeming points, it is known that general travel cards provide a lot of versatility, and you may use your rewards with a range of airline and hotel chains. Furthermore, airline and hotel credit cards offer loyalty programs through which your points can be worth a lot of money—plus, you’ll be able to take advantage of discounts and experiences that are only available to loyalty members. So enjoy the fantastic savings, convenience, and comfort that come with whichever travel card you choose.
With a decent travel credit card in your name, taking a trip can suddenly become cheaper. And if you sign up for the appropriate travel credit card—one that doesn’t simply focus on points but also includes features like lounge access, excellent insurance coverage, and the ability to transfer points between cards—you can receive even more value.
The CardCard you choose should be based on the type of travel you enjoy, how you use your credit card (and what purchases), and which additional travel benefits fit your lifestyle. To help you pick the perfect CardCard, we’ve come up with a list of Canada’s best travel credit cards. Listed below are some of the best travel credit cards in Canada to make your next vacation much cheaper (or possibly free).
Best credit card for travel points
American Express Cobalt® Card
You can earn about 50,000 bonus points worth up to $1,000. With 5x the rewards at grocery stores, restaurants, and bars, the American Express Cobalt Card is the perfect credit card not just for millennials. In addition, with Amex Membership Rewards at your disposal for travel, it makes for a top travel credit card.
- Welcome bonus: Up to 30,000 bonus points (2,500 points per monthly billing cycle that you spend up to $500 in net purchases on your card in your first year), plus a 20,000-point bonus if you spend $3,000 in purchases during the first three months of owning the CardCard.
- Interest: 20.99% on purchases,
- Cash Advance: 21.99%
- Rewards rate: about 4.5%
- Favourite features: Big points bonuses on dining and groceries; access to the Amex Fixed Points Travel Program; free secondary cardholders
- Annual fee: $155.88
If you desire the best rewards credit card for travel points, the American Express Cobalt® Card is an easy choice.
Watch your travel points pile up with these earn rates:
- 1 point for every $1 spent on purchases
- Two points for every $1 spent on gas, transit, and travel. Getting 2 points for every $1 spent on travel is good. Travel here typically refers to just flights, hotels, and vacation packages, but this CardCard also includes gas, taxis, public transportation, and trips with Uber. For people who are frequent flyers, always on the move, this reward is twice as much as what you’d earn on other credit cards on flights and hotel stays.
- 3 points for every $1 spent on streaming services
- Five points for every $1 spent on groceries and restaurants (including drinks and fast foods). The American Express Cobalt card is ideal for individuals who eat out, with a fantastic earning rate of 5 points for every $1 spent on food and drinks—and the dining category is comprehensive, including bars, restaurants, grocery stores and even meal delivery services.
In addition, you can have access to the Fixed Points Travel Program, which allows you to optimize your points fully on round-way flights). Hotel transfer partners, American Express Invites, and a solid travel insurance package—but bear in mind that trip cancellation insurance is not included. Also, you can include other authorized cardholders for no charge. Other features include Baggage delay insurance, Car rental insurance, Baggage loss insurance, Purchase Assurance, Travel emergency medical, Flight delay insurance, Price protection Travel accident insurance. So anyway you want it, there’s a way to use your travel points to suit your preferences.
And with American Express Membership Rewards travel points being worth up to 2 cents each, that’s a return of up to 10% on your grocery and restaurant spend – the highest in Canada right now.
If that isn’t enough, just for signing up, you’ll get a welcome bonus of 50,000 points – 30,000 points after spending $500 every month for the first year and 20,000 points after spending $3,000 in the first three months.
While earning lots of points is excellent, having multiple ways to redeem your points with great value is what makes this one of the best travel credit cards.
The best way is to transfer your points to Aeroplan, worth up to 2 cents each.
Other ways that you can redeem your points include:
- any travel booked from any provider
- vacation packages and hotel stays
Redemption flexibility is high. You can redeem points against an eligible purchase charged to your CardCard.
And unlike Mastercards and Visas, all American Express travel credit cards have no minimum income requirements, putting this CardCard within reach of most people with good credit.
Even the annual fee of $155.88 is more manageable than a $12.99 monthly payment.
Best travel rewards Visa
RBC Avion Visa Infinite
Offer extended: Earn 35,000 bonus points
Get high-value flexible flight rewards and the option to boost reward value by transferring your points to miles in 3 airline rewards programs with the RBC Avion Visa Infinite.
- Welcome bonus: Up to 35,000 extra points, worth up to $750, are available for use in future travel plans, and the points do not expire. Apply by April 18, 2022.
- Purchase Rate: 19.99%
- Cash Advance: 22.99%
- Rewards rate: about 2.36%
- Annual fee: $120
You can earn 1 RBC Rewards point for every dollar you spend. In addition, there are no blackout periods or seat restrictions – ever!
Note: This CardCard requires a minimum personal income of $60,000 or a minimum household income of $100,000. Please note, this premium card can impose higher acceptance costs on merchants.
For Visa lovers, the RBC Avion Visa Infinite offers plenty of different ways to use points for travel. But in this case, it’s what each point is worth that matters. And you’ve got a few high-value options at your disposal with RBC Rewards. The best way, though, is with the Air Travel Redemption chart. You can fly to a set zone for a set amount of points. Below is a summary of the worth of each point.
Type of Flight: Long-haul Canada & US (not including Alaska & Hawaii)
Points Required: 35,000
Max Ticket Price: $750
Max Point Value: 2.1 cents
Type of Flight: Short-haul Canada & US (between neighbouring provinces & states)
Points Required: 15,000
Max Ticket Price: $350
Max Point Value: 2.33 cents
Type of Flight: Eastern Canada to Mexico, Alaska, Hawaii; Western Canada to Caribbean & Central America
Points Required: 55,000
Max Ticket Price: $1100
Max Point Value: 2 cents
Type of Flight: Western Canada to Mexico, Alaska, Hawaii; Eastern Canada to Caribbean & Central America
Points Required: 45,000
Max Ticket Price: $900
Max Point Value: 2 cents
Type of Flight: Europe (must travel from a major gateway in Canada & US)
Points Required: 65,000
Max Ticket Price: $1300
Max Point Value: 2 cents
Type of Flight: Rest of the world (must travel from a major gateway in Canada & US)
Points Required: 100,000
Max Ticket Price: $2000
Max Point Value: 2 cents
The above gives a return of up to 2.33% on your spending. In addition, some airline transfer options are available to you, such as Cathay Pacific, American AAdvantage, British Airways, and WestJet.
Conclusively, you can also redeem for any travel booked through RBC, where 100 points will give you $1 off. All this choice is just for an annual fee of $120.
Best travel rewards Mastercard
MBNA Rewards World Elite® Mastercard®
Offers Comprehensive insurance, earning flexible rewards on all your purchases, and premium perks are just a few things the MBNA Rewards World Elite Mastercard® has to offer.
- Welcome bonus: up to 30,000 bonus points (Approx for the first 90 days). $245 in cash back. You can get 10,000 for registering for paperless e-statements, 20,000 for spending $2,000 in purchases with the CardCard. (Not available for residents of Quebec).
- Rewards rate: around 2.6%
- Purchase Interest: 99%
- Cash Advance: 24.99%
- Income requirement: $80,000 / $150,000 as a household
- Annual fee: $120
- Favourite features: You can earn points at a fantastic but straightforward flat rate; flexible point redemption, with better-than-average value on gift card redemptions, cardholders enjoy double the written warranty coverage on most purchases, Car rental insurance, and discounts at Avis Rent a Car and Budget Rent a Car.
Look no farther than the MBNA Benefits World Elite® Mastercard® if you want a Mastercard with travel rewards. People who wish to dependable, flexible benefits from their travel card but still want to keep things simple. You might not need to be frugal with your spending or consider bonus categories because you’ll get 2 points for $1 on anything. It’s also likely one of the most acceptable options for Costco customers because it’s a Mastercard that earns twice as many reward points as most other travel cards and does so across the board. In addition, if you spend at least $2,000 during the first 90 days, you’ll get 20,000 bonus points, which can be worth up to $200 depending on how you redeem them. If you’re saving up for anything major, you can rest easy knowing that points don’t expire. You can also boost points-earning potential by adding up to nine authorized card users in your household or family at no additional cost. It is one of the best credit cards for dining at restaurants too.
It doesn’t have the fanciest rewards – they can’t be transferred or used with an air travel redemption chart, but you’ll rack up the points at these rates:
- 1 point for every $1 spent on purchases
- 5 points for every $1 spent on groceries, restaurants, digital media, household utility and membership purchases, and select recurring bills (up to $50,000 spent annually per category)
Each MBNA Rewards point is worth 1 cent when redeemed for travel, giving a return of up to 5% on travel.
Based on a typical $2,000 monthly spend, you’re looking at roughly $624 in annual rewards, an amount not easily matched by other credit cards on any travel booking—all for a yearly fee of $120.
The redemption system is flexible: 100 points are worth $1 in travel incentives (or 1 percent return). The reward points earned may be exchanged for several other gift cards (including some e-gift cards that will enable you to avoid the shipping costs associated with receiving a physical card). At 0.9 cents per point, the rate of return is also outstanding; most other travel cards do not offer as good a deal on gift card redemptions.
Unfortunately, this CardCard under-delivers on its provided travel insurance compared to competitors’ offerings. You’ll get lost documents and ticket replacement, lost luggage, and legal assistance, but there’s no travel medical insurance included.
Best travel credit card with no foreign exchange fees
Scotiabank Gold American Express® Card
You can earn up to 40,000 bonus points
Scotiabank Gold American Express is a top flexible reward credit card with best-in-class multipliers across broad spending categories, including groceries, restaurants, entertainment, gas, and transit. Even better? You have seven options for redeeming your points for varying value, plus many included benefits. For example, it allows you to earn up to 40,000 bonus Scene+ points in your first year (that’s up to $400 for travel). In addition, the annual fee in the first year is waived, including on supplementary cards. In addition, you can get a 0.00% introductory interest rate on balance transfers for the first six months (22.99% after that; annual fee $120) (1% balance transfer fee).
- 5 pts for every $1 on groceries, dining & entertainment
- Three pts for every $1 on gas, transit & streaming services
- 1 pt for every $1 on everything else
1 pt = 1% in travel rewards
- Welcome bonus: Spend $1,000 on everyday purchases in the first three months to earn up to 40,000 Scene and travel points. You can also earn an extra 20,000 points in your first year if you spend $7,500 on daily goods. You can apply by January 1, 2022.
- Rewards rate: around 2.3%
- Purchase Interest:99%
- Cash Advance:99%
- Income requirement: $12,000
- Favourite features: a flexible points program, Big points bonuses on groceries and dining, no foreign transaction fees, discount on Priority Pass Lounge Access, American Express Invites.
- Travel insurance: Coverage includes medical trip cancellation, travel emergency, trip interruption, flight delay, travel accident, and more, delayed and lost baggage.
- Balance transfer promo: 0% for 6 months
- FX feature: 0% FX fee
- Annual fee: $120, 1st year free
Many travel rewards are great, but if you frequently travel outside of Canada, every other credit card on this list will charge you an extra 2.5% on purchases made in a foreign currency.
Want to save on this fee? Then look at the Scotiabank Gold American Express® Card. You’ll save 2.5% on every purchase made in foreign currencies because the fee is waived entirely.
This CardCard is part of the Scotia Rewards program, a flexible program that lets users earn points for vacation, retail, or even a cash credit on their account. While these options are excellent, this CardCard is most recognized for assisting Canadian travellers. Cardholders can book flights on any airline through the Scotia Rewards Travel portal or another site where points are applied and statement credit is earned. Five thousand points are worth $50 for travel in both circumstances. There’s also no foreign currency translation fee, which means you’ll avoid paying the 2.5 to 3 percent that most credit cards impose on international purchases.
Travel insurance is available with Scotiabank Gold American Express for up to 25 days per trip (3 days for seniors). In addition, the CardCard entitles you to access presale concert tickets with the American Express Front of the Line service.
And you’ll earn plenty of flexible Scotia Rewards points on your purchases as well:
- 1 point for every $1 spent other purchases
- 3 points per $1 spent on gas, transit, and select streaming services
- Five points per $1 spent on groceries, restaurants, and entertainment.
Throw in plenty of insurance benefits and Scotiabank’s welcome bonus of 40,000 points, and it’s a great overall travel credit card.
Best no annual fee travel credit card
American Express® Green Card
You can earn 10,000 bonus points for no annual fee.
The American Express Green Card is a no-fee travel card that lets you spend your points as easily as you earn them. Redeem your points for travel bookings or cash rewards.
- Welcome bonus: up to 10,000 bonus points
- Rewards rate: around 2%
- Purchase Interest: 99%
- Cash Advance: 21.99%
- Annual fee: $0
Prefer not to pay an annual fee? Don’t spend enough to justify one? Our top no-fee alternative is the American Express® Green Card.
Why? It’s all in the rewards. For no fee, you’ll only earn 1 point per $1 spent on all purchases. But, considering that each Amex point is worth about 2 cents, it’s a return of up to 2% on your spending.
There aren’t any other credit cards offering up to 2% back on all purchases for no annual fee.
Best travel credit card with premium perks
American Express® Gold Rewards Card
You can earn up to 25,000 – 60,000 points worth up to $1,200.
Convert your points 1:1 to airline miles and get $1200 worth of free flights from the 60,000 points sign-up bonus with the American Express Gold Rewards Card.
- Welcome bonus: up to 60,000 bonus points
- Rewards rate: around 2.75%
- Purchase Interest: 99%
- Cash Advance: 21.99%
- Annual fee: $250
Want a few premium perks to go with your travel rewards? Then, the American Express® Gold Rewards Card is your ticket to high rewards and bonuses.
First, here’s what you’ll earn on your daily purchases:
- Two points for every $1 spent on gas, groceries, drugstores, and travel
- One point for every $1 spent on other purchases
With this CardCard, you’ve got the full suite of Amex Membership Rewards redemptions at your disposal. It means each point is worth up to 2 cents, for a max return of up to 4% on your purchases.
Some perks come with this CardCard. Here are the major ones you’ll get:
- $100 annual travel credit,
- Priority Pass membership (each visit costs US$32),
- Four complimentary passes annually to Plaza Premium lounges in Canada, and
- $50 NEXUS application rebate every four years.
Just note the annual fee of $250, but it also has no income requirements.
Best travel credit card with a companion voucher
Alaska Airlines Platinum Plus® Mastercard®
A new Alaska Airlines Platinum Plus® Mastercard® credit card from MBNA could take you places. If approved, you could receive new Alaska Airlines benefits and start earning more Mileage Plan™ miles.
- Welcome bonus: up to 20,000 bonus miles
- Rewards rate: around 2.3%
- Purchase Interest: 99%
- Cash Advance: 22.99%
- Annual fee: $75
A companion voucher is one way to potentially save some big bucks on a trip. They’re pretty simple to use. All you do is buy one ticket for yourself, and you bring someone else with you for a set fee, plus standard taxes and fees.
And the best credit card with a companion voucher may surprise you – it’s the Alaska Airlines Platinum Plus® Mastercard®.
Why this one? It’s the cheapest companion voucher around – costing only US$99 plus taxes and fees anywhere Alaska Airlines flies. For example, leave from a US airport, and the taxes and fees start at just US$22. A super cheap flight for a travelling companion.
With the voucher, this CardCard earns you 1 mile for every $1 spent (valued at up to 2.3 cents each), comes with a sign-up bonus worth up to $460, and includes seven types of insurance.
And the best part of this comes with a low annual fee of $75 and no income requirements. It is an alternative credit card with a companion voucher.
How do we get credit card rankings?
How do we decide what the best travel credit cards are? First, we consider over 126 features of each CardCard, broken down into seven main categories: Rewards, Approval, Fees, Insurance, Interests, Perks, and Acceptance. Since we’re talking about the best travel credit cards, we give particular preference to the rewards category, as it’s the primary feature we’re after for cards on this page.
Best travel credit cards head-to-head
Still not sure which of these travel credit cards is right for you? Maybe this will help.
We’ve put these cards side-by-side based on some of the more important things to keep in mind when deciding which credit card might be best for you.
Estimated welcome bonus value
If you’re the sort of person who enjoys credit card churning to maximize your welcome bonus rewards, the top choices for you are pretty straightforward.
- American Express Cobalt Card – $1000
- RBC Avion Visa Infinite – $816
- Scotiabank Gold American Express Card – $400
- MBNA Rewards World Elite Mastercard – $300
- American Express Green Card – $200
Annual fee
Maybe you’re concerned about whether the annual fee is worth it. There’s a clear choice for you here as well. The Amex Green Card has no annual fee but still offers quite a lot of value in terms of the welcome bonus, an average rate of return, and insurance.
- American Express Green Card – $0
- RBC Avion Visa Infinite – $120
- Scotiabank Gold American Express Card – $120
- MBNA Rewards World Elite Mastercard – $120
- American Express Cobalt Card – $155.88
The average rate of return
We took a look at how these travel credit cards stack up in terms of the average rate of return you’ll get for your spending.
These numbers are based on a typical $2,000 per month spend and the estimated maximum value of each reward point or mile.
Here is where the American Express Cobalt Card shines, giving you an estimated average rate of return of 4.5%. It’s a solid card in all of these categories.
American Express Cobalt Card – 4.50%
- American Express Green Card – 2.75%
- MBNA Rewards World Elite Mastercard – 2.60%
- RBC Avion Visa Infinite – 2.36%
- Scotiabank Gold American Express Card – 2.30%
Estimated insurance value
Recently, we embarked on a monumental and detailed study to determine the estimated insurance value for every credit card.
After crunching the numbers, here’s what we found these seven travel rewards cards offer in terms of travel insurance.
- RBC Avion Visa Infinite – $557
- Scotiabank Gold American Express Card – $475
- MBNA Rewards World Elite Mastercard – $449
- American Express Cobalt Card – $410
- American Express Green Card – $198
Estimated perks value
We also did a similarly massive and detailed analysis to determine the estimated value of credit card perks and benefits. Again, some of these perks aren’t worth a whole lot, but others can provide enormous value if you can take advantage of them.
- Scotiabank Gold American Express Card – $172
- RBC Avion Visa Infinite – $79
- American Express Cobalt Card – $62
- MBNA Rewards World Elite Mastercard – $55
- American Express Green Card – $25
The perks of having a travel rewards credit card
If you want the best travel credit cards in Canada, paying an annual fee is pretty much inevitable. The top 10 range from $75 to $399 annually – but this is overshadowed by the valuable rewards, best in class insurance coverage, and drool-worthy perks like:
- lounge visits,
- concierge service,
- hotel upgrades, and
- special companion fare rates on flights.
Also Read:
Best Mastercard in Canada
BMO Prepaid Mastercard Reviews
Travel Rewards Credit Cards Canada
Airlines, hotels and other brand credit cards are helpful if you travel often and are loyal to a particular brand. However, if your main goal is to earn as many points as possible for your spending and there are many ways to use your points, a card that collects transferable points is the best option. With travel award credit cards, you earn points or miles every time you use them, and in selected categories, you can earn more points per dollar. Business Insider David Slotnick earned 6, for example, 6 cents per point when he used Chase Ultimate Rewards to book a first-class flight to Japan.
Top travel cards such as Chase Sapphire Reserve (r) offer bonus points on travel spending, and the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless (TM) credit card offers bonus points when using the card at Marriott hotels. Travel Rewards Credit Cards are the best travel credit card to not be tied to a single airline or hotel chain with flexible rewards. All-purpose travel cards, including the Chase Sapphire Preferred (r) (r) card, American Express (r) Card, Gold Card and Capital One Ventures Rewards Credit Card, offer rewards for using cash to pay for travel in exchange for points from airlines and hotel loyalty programs.
The American Express Business Platinum Card is an excellent choice for anyone who wants to use the power of their credit card to reach their destinations. Whether you travel or what style you have, travel cards are great for earning rewards, boosting points, enhancing your travel experience and enjoying benefits for the elite. So whether it’s a winter getaway or a summer holiday for snowbirds, travel advice and the best travel cards in Canada can help you save a ton of money.
The best travel cards in Canada offer a combination of rewards, including comprehensive travel insurance, free airport lounges, sign-up bonuses and travel perks to make your vacation more enjoyable. These travel credit cards are fantastic and offer real value, which is why they will be found on my list of the best cashback credit cards and the best credit cards in Canada with foreign transaction fees. The biggest bonus of a travel award credit card is comprehensive travel insurance, which covers travel, medical care, travel cancellations, luggage theft, loss, flight delays, collision damage and car rental.
Travel award cards get points or miles for every purchase you make, intending to help you earn enough points to book free travel. Some offer the chance to collect vital points, while others include travel insurance or passports for elegant airport lounges as part of the package. In addition, the best travel award cards can earn points to transfer to different airlines and hotel partners such as Amex, Chase and Citi Points.
Suppose you are a street warrior who frequently planes once or twice a week. In that case, you might want to consider premium travel cards that offer many perks to make your travels even better, such as Amex Platinum that offers airport lounges, access to hotels and elite status. You can also get a lucrative points-based rewards card with no foreign transaction fees. In this case, you can spend most of your expenditure on the card without a second reward card, and you can deduct the foreign transaction fee when travelling.
The Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite card (TM) wins a significant point in our book because it offers many perks for a hefty annual fee. In addition, Bank of America (r) has a broad definition of travel that gives you additional flexibility in using your rewards. For example, Scotia Rewards points are worth $0.01 when you redeem them for a trip but lose a third of their value if you redeem them for a statement.
The Scotia Rewards points you earn are excellent, and you can redeem them for almost any type of trip you book with your card. With Canada’s most popular travel rewards program, many Canadians want to earn Aeroplan points as much as they can. Aeroplan is such a popular travel reward program among our readers that the Aeroplan card that brings the most value to their annual fee is the Visa Infinite Card (r) TD (r) Aeroplan (r) Card.
In addition to the 10,000 Aeroplan points, you’ll receive a Bonus Buddy Pass to fly anywhere in North America with Air Canada. You’ll be able to make purchases of up to $1,000 with our Aeroplan card for the first 90 days. If the Visa Infinite Card Bonus is approved in the first year, this card will refund the annual fee to primary and additional cardholders, and the points earned on the first purchase are a substantial total value. Scotiabank (r) Gold American Express (r), a card that rewards spending in the categories in which the average person deposits most of their money (groceries, restaurants, bars, food deliveries, etc. Canada has 5% Scotia Rewards Points for each dollar spent on gas and transportation and 3 points for every dollar spent outside Canada.
The incredible earning rate of 5 points per $1 spent on food and drink with the American Express Cobalt Card is a winner in the food and drink categories, with the most generous in the food category, including grocery stores, restaurants, bars and food delivery services. After the first 90 days of card membership, the earning rate for gas, food and restaurant purchases doubles. The sign-up bonus is the most important thing here, as it can be worth hundreds of dollars.
